FBI’s National Security Branch Chief Abruptly Quits, Described as McCabe's "wing man"

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Ghattas, who heads the Bureau’s National Security Branch, is also described as the most experienced counterterrorism agent on the FBI’s rolls. He “leads the FBI’s operations and intelligence efforts involving all national security matters, ranging from terrorism to espionage to weapons of mass destruction,” according to the FBI.

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Ghattas decided to retire Thursday, the fourth top FBI agent to walk away in the last week. But Ghattas’ departure is certainly the biggest. By far.

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McCabe often described Ghattas as his personal legal advisor and wherever McCabe was and was doing, you could expect Ghattas wasn’t far behind, several FBI sources said. “Ghattas was McCabe’s wing man,” one FBI agent said. “He was a better operator than McCabe but you did not want to cross either one of them because there was a mean streak there for sure and it just wan’t worth it on any level.”

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But without McCabe’s protection, lost when he was fired, Ghattas wasn’t the same politically powerful agent, sources said. Couple that with emerging news that the House Intelligence Committee investigators said Ghattas’ name has surfaced in a matter they are investigating, and “the writing was one the wall for Ghattas” to exit the FBI as one agent put it.

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